Getting Started

API Reference: View the complete Ask The News API specification

Ask The News is an Arc XP product that lets readers ask natural-language questions about your newsroom’s content. It queries your Arc XP news corpus and returns AI-generated answers with cited articles, streamed in real time.

Two npm packages integrate Ask The News into your application:

Package	What it is
`@arcxp/ask-the-news-sdk`	TypeScript SDK: direct API access (queries, SSE streaming, feedback, settings). Use this if you are building a custom UI or working outside of React.
`@arcxp/ask-the-news-components`	React component library built on the SDK, with a drop-in `<AskChat/>` plus composable views and hooks. Use this if you want a working UI with minimal setup.

Which package do I need?

Building a React app and want a ready-made UI? Install @arcxp/ask-the-news-components. It bundles the SDK and gives you a full chat experience in a few lines of JSX. Get started with components.
Building a custom UI, using a non-React framework, or need raw API access? Install @arcxp/ask-the-news-sdk. It handles auth, request/response typing, and SSE streaming. Get started with the SDK.

Installing the packages

The packages are published to GitHub Packages under the @arcxp scope. GitHub Packages requires authentication even for public packages, so anonymous installs will be rejected.

Step 1: Get a GitHub token with read:packages scope. You can create one at github.com/settings/tokens.

Step 2: Add your .npmrc. This tells npm to route @arcxp packages to GitHub Packages and authenticate with your token:

# .npmrc (project root or home directory)
@arcxp:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com
//npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=${NPM_GITHUB_TOKEN}

Step 3: Set the environment variable and install:

export NPM_GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here
npm install @arcxp/ask-the-news-components   # React UI (includes the SDK)
# or
npm install @arcxp/ask-the-news-sdk          # SDK only

Both packages require Node >= 22.

Documentation

SDK docs: API reference, query methods, SSE streaming, error handling
SDK changelog
Components docs: <AskProvider>, <AskChat/>, composable views, hooks, theming
Components changelog

Running the demo app

apps/demo is a minimal demo app showing how the packages are wired together: a single page rendering <AskProvider> + <AskChat/>. It is dev-only and runs off the Vite dev server.

Prerequisites: Node >= 22 and the .npmrc auth above (the repo’s .npmrc reads NPM_GITHUB_TOKEN from your environment).

npm install       # installs the demo and the published @arcxp packages
npm run dev       # starts the demo on http://localhost:3000

Point the demo at your Ask The News deployment with these environment variables (e.g. via apps/demo/.env.local or real environment variables):

Variable	Description	Example
`VITE_ATN_BASE_URL`	API base URL	`https://myorg-config-sandbox.api.arc-cdn.net/ask`
`VITE_ATN_WEBSITE`	Site identifier	`my-site`
`VITE_ATN_API_KEY`	Site-scoped API key (sent as the `X-Api-Key` header)	(your site’s API key)

License

Governed by the Arc XP SDK License Agreement; use requires an active Arc XP subscription.